Reception, Dinner and Col. Hans Christian Heg Presentation

Joint event with NorCham Chicago and the Norwegian American Genealogy Center and Naeseth Library (NAGC&NL) in Madison.  Our speaker is Kevin Hampton, Curator of History at the Wisconsin Veteran’s Museum. The Norwegian Honorary Consul for Illinois and Wisconsin, Susan Meyer, will speak before the presentation.

 Event location is at the NAGC&NL at 415 W Main St, Madison, WI 53703, USA. Limited parking in the lot, and street parking is available. 

4:30-5:30 pm cocktail reception at NAGC Library

5:30-6:30pm presentation

6:45pm dinner at the Great Dane Restaurant about 3-4 blocks away

Great Dane Pub & Brewing

123 E. Doty St. Madison, Wis. 53703 Phone: 608-284-0000

Event price includes the beer/wine reception and the buffet dinner after the presentation (cash bar at dinner).

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Hans Christian Heg (1829-1863) was a Norwegian American abolitionist, journalist, anti-slavery activist, politician and soldier. He was born at Haugestad in the community of Lierbyen in Lier, Buskerud, Norway, where his father ran an inn. His family emigrated to the US in 1840, and settled at Muskego Settlement, Wisconsin. After two years as a Forty-Niner in California following the California Gold Rush, Heg returned to settle in Wisconsin.

Heg is best known as the colonel who commanded the 15th Wisconsin Volunteer Regiment on the Union side in the American Civil War. He died of the wounds he received at the Battle of Chickamauga. A 10 ft (3.0 m) high pyramid of 8 in (20 cm) shells at Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park marks the site on the battlefield where Heg was mortally wounded.

A statue by Paul Fjelde was cast in 1925 and installed at the Wisconsin State Capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin, United States in 1926. The bronze statue depicting the Union soldier and abolitionist Hans Christian Heg was torn down by rioters, decapitated and thrown into a lake in June 2020. The Wisconsin state government restored and reinstalled the original statue in September 2021 - [Bio from Wikipedia.com. photo by Daderot/ Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain]